Hi all. I've been following your advice and has been great. My 1.5 gallon with aponogeton plant and 1 betta has been doing great. I just completed my second water change and when testing the tap water, which I had conditioned, the ammonia reading was .5!!! It has NEVER been this high in the 3 weeks I've had him in the tank! I know people said it would be hard to get a 1.5 to cycle, but, incredibly enough, my reading before I changed the water was 0 ammonia, .25 nitrite and 5 nitrate.(the nitrate was 0, 3 weeks ago) Thank goodness I didn't do a complete water removal, about 2/3rd to 3/4's. The ph is about 7.4 and water temp about 75(which has been the norm and he has been great). I have some amquel plus from when I had the goldfish for 1 week and couldn't get the ammonia down with him. He died within the next day after using this, so, I am very leary to use it. His previous tank water, in his clear changing cup I put in him to do the cleaning), has ammonia at .25. Would you recommend putting him in the tank with the .5 ammonia or using the amquel(as I said...says can reduce water oxygenation for the first few hours after use and I have a very small tank), but since betta's use the outside air...would this not be a real issue? Tomorrow I'll call our treatment plant to see if this ammonia spike is from them(I'm pretty sure i've tested the water before putting it in), and how long it will last. I also have Deer Park Spring water and after treating it with conditioners, it doesn't have ammonia, but the ph is 6.4(way to great a change from current 7.4), so, I think I have to leave this out for at least 12-24 hours, which leaves me in a bind as even with the container floating in the tank....he really doesn't like it al all(must be flashbacks from the fishstore!(smile). I realize it's late(11:06 on u.s. east coast), so, I'll wait another 15 minutes to see if any of you are on. THanks so much and any advice on this ammonia spike from the tap water and what you guys do when/if it happens, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the info re: the Prime conditioner. I guess this is more than just the Tetra Aquasafe conditioner I've been using as mine doesn't have anything in it to effect ammonia. Once you've used the Prime, do you get an accurate reading for Ammonia when you test again?(I'm using the API freshwater Master Test Kit someone from this site recommended.) I've read, but don't fully understand, that for some products, if you use something to bond to the Ammonia to neutralize it, you then won't be really able to get a true reading as you'll still get a false positive. Do you know anything about that with your Prime conditioner and the liquid test kit I'm using? I finally had to put him in the water and take my chances as he truly hates that clear cup. I've been up for about 1 hour with him in there, and he seems to be doing fine(no rapid swimming around the tank or anything crazy). I did test the tank water again and still ammonia, but 0 Nitrite and still had 5 Nitrate, so, hoping things will get broken down and the ammonia level will decrease overnight.
THanks for your response.

I don't know if I can answer your question or not but last night I did a test on my water straight from the tap and the reading was 1.0. Then I added Prime to the water and it tested zero for ammonia. So the Prime will give you a reading of zero ammonia.

DQ: Thanks so much! That's the answer I was hoping for. I used the Amquel plus in some water I put in a large bowl. I tested it, and it still tests as .5 ammonia...same as before I added it. So, I'm off to get some of the Prime. As I mentioned, I took my chances on the tank with the .25 ammonia reading on Thurs @ 1:00 a.m. He was still fine the next day. When I tested the tank water this Friday at 8:00 a.m., the ammonia is now back down to 0, so, I guess the nitrate reading of 5 I'm getting is enough for the good bacteria to break down the ammonia within about 24 hours.
THanks for your help.